Sleeping It Off
by MelissaeWrites
Summary: Like most winter spirits, Jack hibernates during the warmer weather. Aster did not get the memo. (Jackrabbit, Jack/Aster preslash)


A/N: This is just a quick little ficlet I wrote for a request I received on tumblr.

* * *

The first year, Jack had made it to May before falling asleep midair, not even waking up after hitting every tree bough on the way down. He hadn't known much about hibernation at that point, other than the fact that some bears did it sometimes, but he'd caught on pretty fast. The minute the last of the snow melted away in his territory, the clock started ticking. Ignoring that clock was a one-way ticket to falling asleep somewhere inconvenient, and he'd learned the hard way that it wasn't a wise idea to sleep out in the open, unprotected. Mortals couldn't see him, but some of the less kind local spirits certainly could.

Nowadays, Jack had his system pretty well worked out. After the snow finished up, he'd wait just long enough for new grasses and leaves to start growing so he could gather them and create a nice little nook for himself in some of the nearby caves. He could time it well enough now that the grass and flowers were barely even wilted by the time he passed out and slept the sleep of the dead. He'd worried the first few years that he wouldn't wake up in time for his winter duties, but he found that he needn't have worried; he woke up like clockwork every autumn. The first chill would steal its way into his nest and freeze his bones back to working order. A little like thawing out after coming in out of the cold except, y'know, the exact opposite.

Yes, after three hundred years of season-regulated nap time, Jack was an old hand at that hibernation thing. Which is why he was so confused now to be awake.

"Ugh." He turned over in his makeshift bed, grumbling beneath his breath. No matter how he rolled, he couldn't seem to get comfortable. There was something quivering beneath his skin, a rush of energy that he couldn't make heads or tails of. Even North's introduction of coffee into his regular diet couldn't account for the jitters that he couldn't seem to magic away.

He rolled onto his back and sighed again, grimacing as the deep breath filled his lungs with the sweet, grassy scent of his bedding. He couldn't help but associate the smell with the lush warren he'd visited not more than two months before, and that was really the last thing he wanted to think about. In fact, he wanted to think about it so little that this year he'd actually been eager to steal away to his little hideaway and get a break his thoughts, which had been turning to his old foe with alarming frequency.

His interactions with Bunny had been stilted lately, which was no great shock. North had been calling them together for every little thing now that the big holidays were out of the way. He had used every excuse in the book, from checking in on everyone's injuries to pleading for help with a mildly disturbing elf rebellion. He wasn't fooling any of them, though, especially not after Jack caught him whispering to Tooth about team building exercises. Jack couldn't bring himself to mind much, though. Being around everyone, even on the busiest, most tumultuous days, was far better than being alone. Even when he and Bunny were dancing around half the subjects that came up-and arguing about the rest.

Jack knew what the problem was. Neither of them really knew how to have a decent conversation with each other after such a long time picking at each other. More awkward still was the knowledge that the other wasn't such a bad sort. Not really. It had been so much easier to dismiss Bunny as an overgrown rabbit with a stick shoved up his shapely rump, and Jack knew that it had been a lot easier for Bunny to think of him as a prank-playing jerk with no regard for anyone else's feelings. Now they had to acknowledge that they were both fully-developed spirits with real thoughts and motivations and emotions and-well, frankly, that meant acknowledging that neither one had done much to respect those emotions. It was difficult now for Jack to look at Bunny and see a fierce, solitary pooka with a strongly-developed sense of responsibility and breathtaking artistic skills instead of just a prime target for his tricks.

He didn't know what Bunny saw when he looked at him. He still wasn't used to people seeing him, really _seeing_ him, in general.

But, he thought, reaching up to scrub at his eyes, that was exactly what he didn't want to think about. Bunny was confusing, and Jack's feelings for him were even more so.

A prickle crept up the back of his neck, providing a blissful distraction from his thoughts. At least until Jack placed exactly what was disturbing him.

There were sounds coming from outside his cave, lurching, stumbling ones, as if something generally more graceful were in a hurry. Jack scrambled to his feet and backed up a little further into the cave, grabbing his crook and doing his level best to melt into the shadows. A soft whuffling was all the warning Jack got before something large clattered into his den, and Jack braced himself for impact before he recognized the intruder. "Bunny?"

"Jack?" Bunny squinted into the darkness, obviously trying to suss out the source of the voice, and Jack stepped a little further into the light.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He was proud that his voice remained steady even as he tried to slow his racing heartbeat. Jeez. That kangaroo had really scared him.

"What am I-" Bunny spluttered. "What are you doing here? We've been looking all over for you, mate."

Jack couldn't help but keep the skepticism off his face. It was habit by this point. "Seriously?"

Bunny made a noise somewhere between a harrumph and a squawk, and Jack could only take it as a sign of displeasure-and maybe embarrassment. "Well, the others didn't-" He cut himself off and shook his head. "The point is you haven't shown up at to North's in yonks, and you weren't lollygagging around any of your usual haunts."

Even though he knew in his heart of hearts that it was unkind, Jack smirked. "The others didn't what?" Well. No one had ever accused him of being kind.

Bunny rolled his eyes. Funnily enough, this seemed to put him on surer footing. Like this, at least, was old ground. "Tooth said you were probably busy, and North was squawking about growing boys needing space or some such nonsense. But I know you, Frost. When you go quiet, there's trouble on the way," he said with a sharp look his way.

Jack leaned forward on against his staff and let the movement force a soft whuff of a laugh out of him. "I was sleeping, kangaroo. Or trying, anyway. Didn't Sandy tell you?"

"Sleeping?" Bunny rested back on his heels like some of the wind had been taken from his sails. "Why on earth did you have to come all the way out here to get a bit of shuteye?"

Jack quirked his eyebrows at him. "Hibernation, Bunny. It's this thing that winter spirits do when it gets warm." Every winter spirit he had ever known, anyway.

Bunny scoffed. "Well, yeah. _Lesser _winter spirits. A seasonal spirit of your level shouldn't be bothered with all that, though. I haven't had to sleep through a winter since I was a kit."

"A lesser-what do you mean by that?" Jack snapped, automatically stepping back into a more defensive position.

"Hold on there, Jacko," Bunny said, holding up his paws in the near-universal sign for peace. "Just doesn't seem right that a Guardian of all things would need to sleep the day away just because it's a bit warm outside."

"Well," Jack said, deflating, "I guess it's true that I haven't exactly felt too sleepy this year."

Bunny gave him a hard look that left him squirming; it was as if he could see into his very bones. "Shouldn't have been a problem even years past, Jack. You're too powerful to need a hibernation," he said slowly, as if getting his head around the idea.

Jack snorted. "Yeah, well, tell that to my body. I conk out like a light if I don't get my beauty sleep."

"As if you need any more of that," Bunny sniffed. "No need to get a head any bigger than you already do."

Jack carefully filed that remark away for further consideration. "Seriously, though, Bunny, I need to sleep. I learned that the hard way," he said.

Bunny frowned. "That doesn't make sense," he said. "Unless..."

"Unless?" Jack asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Unless you were too powerful for your own good," Bunny finished. "Must've been using up your batteries every bloody winter with all those storms and snowballs. And not a single believer to charge you back up."

Jack flinched, but before he could say anything, Bunny's eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that! Just, you can't run around using the kind of power you do without some kind of energy stores. Most spirits your age can't use that kind of power at all," he said.

"But I can. And I don't even feel tired now, not even after that fight with Pitch," Jack shot back.

"Well, yeah, true enough," Bunny said with a wry smile. "But you've got yourself some believers now. Jamie and his lot, definitely, and you've got us."

Jack swallowed. Hearing it like that... "So... How much of a charge do you think a Guardian gives when they believe in someone?" he asked, voice coming out lower than he'd hoped it would.

Bunny grinned and chucked him gently on the shoulder. "Heaps, I bet."

Jack rubbed his shoulder absently. "Even from you?" he asked, and then immediately wished he hadn't. "I mean-"

"Yeah," Bunny interrupted. "'Specially me. I've seen what you can manage firsthand, haven't I? Wouldn't even be here myself if not for you." His voice was light, but there was something heavy in his eyes.

For the first time, Jack found himself wondering he wasn't as alone in some of his most confusing imaginings as he'd thought. He swallowed again with a dry through, and tried to laugh to cover his discomfort. "I'm still not sure why you're here in the first place," he said weakly.

Bunny went shifty-eyed at that, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I suppose I was a bit worried. It's not like you to flit off like that. Not anymore, anyway. Didn't know if you were getting-" He cut himself off and looked as if he were struggling with the right word. "Didn't want you to end up feeling like you were alone again," he finally finished.

"No chance of that," Jack said, letting a lopsided grin spread across his face. "Not when I've got kangaroos jumping around in my bed every time I try to take a little nap."

"Oi," Bunny said warningly, and that was it, Jack couldn't help laughing at that one. And after a brief moment of confusion, Bunny starting laughing right along with him. "Suppose it was a bit silly of me," he finally admitted. "I know you can take care of yourself."

"Nah, it's okay," Jack said. And then, making his own admission, he added, "Sometimes it's nice not to have to."


End file.
